Many Myths are surrounding the topic of why men and women lose their hair, and
unfortunately science is still searching for clear answers here.

Hair loss can be attributed to many factors including:

• Genetic genes

• Hormonal imbalances

• Stress

• Injury

• Medical conditions

• Diet

• Scalp disorders

• Drug abuse.

Genetic Baldness

In most cases, not much can be done to prevent balding. The most common type of
hair loss - androgenic alopecia - is genetic. As we age, changing hormones and
hereditary factors can slow down natural hair growth, causing thinning and
partial or total alopecia. In men, it is known as male pattern baldness and is
progressive, largely irreversible and currently incurable. Typically, it begins
with a receding hairline at the temples and or thinning of the hair in the
front and crown areas of the scalp. Eventually, a band of hair around the back
and sides of the scalp is all that remains. It takes between
10 and 40 years to get to this stage. The younger a person is when their hair
begins to fail out, the more severe the eventual hair loss. While 95 per cent
of pattern-baldness sufferers are men, and they can experience hair loss from
as early as 20 years, women also can experience this debilitating condition.
It usually is less severe because of the protective effect of the female hormone
oestrogen. Women suffer hair thinning rather than baldness. Genetic thinning
usually begins at the time of menopause or after and on a hysterectomy because
of an increase in male sex hormone levels (androgens), but it also can be
triggered by hormone replacement therapy (HRI) and oral contraceptives in
younger women.
Female pattern baldness can first become apparent in women by the ages of 25 to
30.

Acquired Hair Loss

Hair loss also can be non-inherited, caused by factors including disease,
hormone imbalance,
prescription drugs, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, improper hairdressing
techniques, stress,
nutritional deficiency and childbirth. This type of hair loss may be permanent
or temporary.

Alopecia (areata, diffusa, totalis)

This condition, which affects men, women and children - is thought to be an
autoimmune disorder, which causes hair follicles to stop producing hairs. It
can begin in either childhood or adulthood, and usually starts as a patch of
baldness on the scalp. Hair may regrow or it can progress to multiple patches
or total baldness. Advanced forms of this disorder include alopecia totalis,
where all the hair on the head
or other body areas falls out, and alopecia universalis, which is total head and
body hair loss.
This condition may be genetic, and possibly triggered by a stressful event.
Alopecia areata can be frustratingly difficult to manage. Although about 80 per
cent of people with small bald patches will experience regrowth without
treatment, recurrence of hair loss is likely. And when all scalp and/or body
hair is lost, the recovery rate is only between 15 to 20 per cent.

Many people’s idea of coping with their hair loss is to cover it up with a hat, crop cut it
or go for the new bald look . They tend to believe that this actually fixes the
problem, but in fact, deep down they would love to have a full head of hair but
don
’t contemplate the fact that they can actually get it ALL back, longer, thicker,
wavier, healthier and shinier than ever before.